Judgment expected in nurses’ transgender changing room case
Eight members of the Day Surgery Unit at Darlington Memorial Hospital brought a claim against Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust.
Judgment is expected on Friday in the legal challenge brought by nurses over a transgender colleague’s use of the female changing-rooms at work.
Eight members of the Day Surgery Unit at Darlington Memorial Hospital brought a claim against Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust after Rose Henderson, who was born male but identifies as a woman, was allowed to use the women’s changing facilities.
An employment tribunal in Newcastle, heard evidence from the nurses, the trust and Rose before the panel adjourned the proceedings in November to consider its findings.
The nurses claim that Rose stared at colleagues in the female changing-rooms, repeatedly asked one of them why she was not getting changed and walked round the room in boxer shorts.
In response, Rose told the panel: “I am not the individual (the claimants) have painted me to be” and described how “upsetting” it had been to see “hordes of people” posting insults online after the case came to public attention.
The Darlington nurses, who have been supported by the Christian Legal Centre, brought a claim for indirect discrimination, harassment and victimisation, saying the complaints which they raised with the trust in July 2023 were “buried”.
The judgment follows nurse Sandy Peggie’s partial victory last month in her claim against her employer, NHS Fife, after she complained about being forced to share changing facilities with transgender doctor Beth Upton at Kirkcaldy’s Victoria Hospital in December 2023.
